Re: Exponential Revolution posted by Kordus Fri Jul 10 06:31:16 2009
The implications for the use of technology in future education will be huge! According to Moore's Law based on the exponential trend of cost, all students could have their own computer in the classroom within the next decade.
The ability for all people to have easy access to technology (if cost really does come down as much as Moore's Law suggests) opens up a whole new realm of learning, access to immediate information, and skills to help students compete in a global market place. In one sense, this is really exciting. In another sense, it is terribly frightening. As a person who doesn't feel very comfortable with using current technology, the future of technology is mind-boggling. I don't think I'm alone in my feelings towards this.
Jukes and McCain, in "Windows on the Future" rightly suggest that education resists change. The changes in technology that are happening and coming at us full speed, means to me, that the way in which we educate students (in many settings), needs a huge overhaul. When research points out that technology increases student learning (Schacter and Fagnano, 1999)we, as educators, cannot ignore what is before us.
The authors of "Windows on the Future" pose the question, "What steps can we take to ensure that all our students develop the essential skills to succeed in this exponential environment?" Educators are always exploring best practice, but the future of technology means not just integrating a new single-subject curriculum like math, it's really all-encompassing. The authors of "Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works" give us great tips on how to successfully teach with technology, but I wonder how educators will really be able to keep up with all of the technological changes. While technology is wonderful, it can also be dangerous when misused. How will educators be able to control misuse of technology if all future students have their own computers? I'd love to travel to the future in education!
Re: Speed of Change posted by Kordus Tue Jul 21 07:34:48 2009 Education is slow to change in our rapidly changing society for several reasons. I think that time and money are the two biggest factors, along with an antiquated mind-set that the current system has worked for many people over the years, so why change it (if it ain't broke, don't fix it).
Time...this is always a factor for teachers. Teachers feel strapped for time while they are teaching and when the school day is done. When, really, is there time for every educator to learn about the technological innovations that we need to learn in order to keep up, especially when we know, according to Gilder as cited by Jukes and McCain, the depreciation in the value of technological information. Gilder suggests that 1/2 of what a technical school student learns in his/her first year of school will become outdated, obsolete, or wrong by the beginning of his/her third year of technical school. We barely have time for new innovations to soak in before they change. Knowing that things change so rapidly, I'm sure some educators lose motivation to teach the "new thing" when they know the depreciation rate. We have to budget our time--this is always a problem.
Money...another hot issue always, and especially right now in these hard economic times, is another reason that education is slow to change. It takes dollars to get new resources. Twenty years ago it was fine to buy new textbooks and think that would last for ten or more years. When Jukes and McCain say "It is estimated that there was more new data produced in the last 50 years than in the previous 5,000 years" (p. 47)we know that our "new" resources can quickly become outdated. Relying on tax-payer dollars to fund education in a quickly changing world isn't going to cut it. Many people don't want to fork out their own dollars for schools, which brings us to another reason schools are slow to change.
Let's face it,our country is antiquated in its thinking about the structure and importance of schools. When tax payers and policy makers aren't willing to make education top priority, we are in trouble. In many cases the people who don't want to put more into schools are those who cruised through the system just fine; they see nothing wrong with the system. Perhaps others don't want to put money into it because the schools failed them. Then there are those who simply don't want to part with their money because the overall mind-set of Americans is me, me, me (I'm generalizing). I really think this mind-set is at the heart of why education is slow to change in a lot of ways. We aren't willing to invest the necessary dollars.
While I love summer vacation, is it really beneficial for the future of our country? Is our current education structure working? We all know that students lose quite a bit of knowledge and learning habits over the summer. Why do we still have summers off when we are not a society of farmers anymore? The "Did You Know?" video shared that India has more honors kids than the United States has kids! Why are we always talking on the phone to someone in India when we have technology questions? The authors of "Techno-Promoter Dreams, Student Realities" write that we need to change the nature of education and provide students with high-tech skills. If we are to do that, we need to rethink and restructure. I definitely do not have the answers, but education can't be slow to change anymore, or we will be way behind others in the world.
Re: High Tech posted Kordus Wed Jul 29 07:29:15 2009 Choosing one program from the LJ Group ScanTEK site to discuss is difficult. I was going to choose the Life Science area to discuss since I really enjoy teaching science, but then I decided on something that was more applicable to any subject area--digital photography.
Every child I know loves to take pictures, but not everyone knows how to take good pictures and manipulate them to get the desired effects. The Digital Photography module in LJ Create, found at http://www.ljcreate.com/products/product.asp?ID=98&type=cur, gives a tutorial on how to take pictures, how to correct them, manipulate them, and so on.
I feel like students could really apply this information and experience to so many things that we do in the classroom. Because Digital Natives love to learn visually, and they can recall approximately 90% of images presented to them, according to a 3M study referenced by Jukes and McCain (Windows on the Future, 2007, p. 98), what a great tool to learn with! I could see students photographing nearly anything of interest to them in the classroom. These photos could be manipulated by the students and placed in a newsletter or class blog, wiki, PowerPoint, etc. It would help with parent communication, student motivation, and student learning.
I can especially imagine the digital photography being used in our science ecosystems unit where students document the changes in plant and animal life. Since all of the 4th graders across our district do this unit at approximately the same time, it would be fantastic to share images, video clips, predictions, etc. with students from other schools...hmmm?!
We know from our reading and from experience, that "knowledge connected with non-linguistic representation is remembered more deeply than with linguistic forms alone" (Hubbell, Using Technology With Classroom Instruction that Works p. 104). Digital photography is pretty basic these days, but at the elementary level and for Digital Immigrants like me, it would be extremely useful to know how to use this technology.
After reading several articles and looking at several websites on the digital divide, it is plain to see that there is inequity in access to technology, not just in the United States, but around the world. Those on the lower economic end are disadvantaged in that they cannot afford to have similar technology as those who are more affluent. This, leads to an inequity in the amount of information people can gather, the tools that help people get jobs and do their jobs, and simply live in some cases.
The website that I referenced above was unique. This site distinguished the digital divide as "not so much about access to digital technology but about the benefits derived from access." In other words, not only is there inequity in access to technology, but that technology is designed more for affluent people because these are the people who have the money to spend on it. To design technology for the disadvantaged is not profitable. So even if the poor have access, the argument is that they don't benefit as much from it. Another site that I looked at www.useit.com/alertbox/digital.divide.html also said that the poor need access to technology but that the technology needs to serve a really useful purpose, like helping these people solve their needs.
The sites that I referenced make some good points. As educators, we of course, need to be advocates for all of our students, and help them see how education is relevant to their own lives. This includes helping families. We all know that if a family is disadvantaged, so is a student from that family. I feel like a bigger outreach needs to be made to families from the schools. Not only can we educate our students regarding technology, we can help educate parents and family members. Maybe it means going to homes, having technology nights at school, providing tech. help when computers break down. I think it's important to keep in mind, however, that just giving someone a laptop isn't where it ends. People need to know how to use technology effectively, so that it is beneficial for them.
I think educators could really benefit from having an inservice on grant-writing. The Laptop Project referenced in the "Did You Know? Shift Happens" video is an example of people getting technology out to kids who are disadvantaged economically, but again, the "usefulness" education must go along with it (which it probably does in this case). One of my former student's mother is an audiologist. She wrote a grant and got all of our classrooms nice amplification systems. We have approximately 25 classrooms in our school! I have four in-ceiling speakers in my room--it is awesome! I think money is out there, and there are businesses who would help, but perhaps are not asked. I think teachers need to pool their connections resources more.
Let's not forget an old-fashioned route to make change and to advocate for our students. We can make some more noise. Contacting legislators about technology in education and rallying people to do likewise could really be effective. I know all of this takes time, and I'm not exactly in a position to start a grassroots movement on my own right now, but it is possible. We can't get burned out, we need to get fired up!
Re: Exponential Revolution posted by Kordus Fri Jul 10 06:31:16 2009
The implications for the use of technology in future education will be huge! According to Moore's Law based on the exponential trend of cost, all students could have their own computer in the classroom within the next decade.
The ability for all people to have easy access to technology (if cost really does come down as much as Moore's Law suggests) opens up a whole new realm of learning, access to immediate information, and skills to help students compete in a global market place. In one sense, this is really exciting. In another sense, it is terribly frightening. As a person who doesn't feel very comfortable with using current technology, the future of technology is mind-boggling. I don't think I'm alone in my feelings towards this.
Jukes and McCain, in "Windows on the Future" rightly suggest that education resists change. The changes in technology that are happening and coming at us full speed, means to me, that the way in which we educate students (in many settings), needs a huge overhaul. When research points out that technology increases student learning (Schacter and Fagnano, 1999)we, as educators, cannot ignore what is before us.
The authors of "Windows on the Future" pose the question, "What steps can we take to ensure that all our students develop the essential skills to succeed in this exponential environment?" Educators are always exploring best practice, but the future of technology means not just integrating a new single-subject curriculum like math, it's really all-encompassing. The authors of "Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works" give us great tips on how to successfully teach with technology, but I wonder how educators will really be able to keep up with all of the technological changes. While technology is wonderful, it can also be dangerous when misused. How will educators be able to control misuse of technology if all future students have their own computers? I'd love to travel to the future in education!
Re: Speed of Change posted by Kordus Tue Jul 21 07:34:48 2009
Education is slow to change in our rapidly changing society for several reasons. I think that time and money are the two biggest factors, along with an antiquated mind-set that the current system has worked for many people over the years, so why change it (if it ain't broke, don't fix it).
Time...this is always a factor for teachers. Teachers feel strapped for time while they are teaching and when the school day is done. When, really, is there time for every educator to learn about the technological innovations that we need to learn in order to keep up, especially when we know, according to Gilder as cited by Jukes and McCain, the depreciation in the value of technological information. Gilder suggests that 1/2 of what a technical school student learns in his/her first year of school will become outdated, obsolete, or wrong by the beginning of his/her third year of technical school. We barely have time for new innovations to soak in before they change. Knowing that things change so rapidly, I'm sure some educators lose motivation to teach the "new thing" when they know the depreciation rate. We have to budget our time--this is always a problem.
Money...another hot issue always, and especially right now in these hard economic times, is another reason that education is slow to change. It takes dollars to get new resources. Twenty years ago it was fine to buy new textbooks and think that would last for ten or more years. When Jukes and McCain say "It is estimated that there was more new data produced in the last 50 years than in the previous 5,000 years" (p. 47)we know that our "new" resources can quickly become outdated. Relying on tax-payer dollars to fund education in a quickly changing world isn't going to cut it. Many people don't want to fork out their own dollars for schools, which brings us to another reason schools are slow to change.
Let's face it,our country is antiquated in its thinking about the structure and importance of schools. When tax payers and policy makers aren't willing to make education top priority, we are in trouble. In many cases the people who don't want to put more into schools are those who cruised through the system just fine; they see nothing wrong with the system. Perhaps others don't want to put money into it because the schools failed them. Then there are those who simply don't want to part with their money because the overall mind-set of Americans is me, me, me (I'm generalizing). I really think this mind-set is at the heart of why education is slow to change in a lot of ways. We aren't willing to invest the necessary dollars.
While I love summer vacation, is it really beneficial for the future of our country? Is our current education structure working? We all know that students lose quite a bit of knowledge and learning habits over the summer. Why do we still have summers off when we are not a society of farmers anymore? The "Did You Know?" video shared that India has more honors kids than the United States has kids! Why are we always talking on the phone to someone in India when we have technology questions? The authors of "Techno-Promoter Dreams, Student Realities" write that we need to change the nature of education and provide students with high-tech skills. If we are to do that, we need to rethink and restructure. I definitely do not have the answers, but education can't be slow to change anymore, or we will be way behind others in the world.
Resources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8
Did You Know? Video
http://cw.marianuniversity.edu/rstucky/PDF/TechnologyInSchools.pdf
Technology in Schools Article
http://cw.marianuniversity.edu/rstucky/PDF/Techno-PromoterDreams,Student%20Realities.pdf
Techno-Promoter Dreams Article
LJ Create Digital Photography
Biographical Stories and Poems
Windows Photo Story
Re: High Tech posted Kordus Wed Jul 29 07:29:15 2009
Choosing one program from the LJ Group ScanTEK site to discuss is difficult. I was going to choose the Life Science area to discuss since I really enjoy teaching science, but then I decided on something that was more applicable to any subject area--digital photography.
Every child I know loves to take pictures, but not everyone knows how to take good pictures and manipulate them to get the desired effects. The Digital Photography module in LJ Create, found at http://www.ljcreate.com/products/product.asp?ID=98&type=cur, gives a tutorial on how to take pictures, how to correct them, manipulate them, and so on.
I feel like students could really apply this information and experience to so many things that we do in the classroom. Because Digital Natives love to learn visually, and they can recall approximately 90% of images presented to them, according to a 3M study referenced by Jukes and McCain (Windows on the Future, 2007, p. 98), what a great tool to learn with! I could see students photographing nearly anything of interest to them in the classroom. These photos could be manipulated by the students and placed in a newsletter or class blog, wiki, PowerPoint, etc. It would help with parent communication, student motivation, and student learning.
I can especially imagine the digital photography being used in our science ecosystems unit where students document the changes in plant and animal life. Since all of the 4th graders across our district do this unit at approximately the same time, it would be fantastic to share images, video clips, predictions, etc. with students from other schools...hmmm?!
We know from our reading and from experience, that "knowledge connected with non-linguistic representation is remembered more deeply than with linguistic forms alone" (Hubbell, Using Technology With Classroom Instruction that Works p. 104). Digital photography is pretty basic these days, but at the elementary level and for Digital Immigrants like me, it would be extremely useful to know how to use this technology.
Re: Digital Divide: posted by Kordus. This is a link I used to find information on the digital divide: http://www.digitaldivide.org/dd/digitaldivide.html
After reading several articles and looking at several websites on the digital divide, it is plain to see that there is inequity in access to technology, not just in the United States, but around the world. Those on the lower economic end are disadvantaged in that they cannot afford to have similar technology as those who are more affluent. This, leads to an inequity in the amount of information people can gather, the tools that help people get jobs and do their jobs, and simply live in some cases.
The website that I referenced above was unique. This site distinguished the digital divide as "not so much about access to digital technology but about the benefits derived from access." In other words, not only is there inequity in access to technology, but that technology is designed more for affluent people because these are the people who have the money to spend on it. To design technology for the disadvantaged is not profitable. So even if the poor have access, the argument is that they don't benefit as much from it. Another site that I looked at www.useit.com/alertbox/digital.divide.html also said that the poor need access to technology but that the technology needs to serve a really useful purpose, like helping these people solve their needs.
The sites that I referenced make some good points. As educators, we of course, need to be advocates for all of our students, and help them see how education is relevant to their own lives. This includes helping families. We all know that if a family is disadvantaged, so is a student from that family. I feel like a bigger outreach needs to be made to families from the schools. Not only can we educate our students regarding technology, we can help educate parents and family members. Maybe it means going to homes, having technology nights at school, providing tech. help when computers break down. I think it's important to keep in mind, however, that just giving someone a laptop isn't where it ends. People need to know how to use technology effectively, so that it is beneficial for them.
I think educators could really benefit from having an inservice on grant-writing. The Laptop Project referenced in the "Did You Know? Shift Happens" video is an example of people getting technology out to kids who are disadvantaged economically, but again, the "usefulness" education must go along with it (which it probably does in this case). One of my former student's mother is an audiologist. She wrote a grant and got all of our classrooms nice amplification systems. We have approximately 25 classrooms in our school! I have four in-ceiling speakers in my room--it is awesome! I think money is out there, and there are businesses who would help, but perhaps are not asked. I think teachers need to pool their connections resources more.
Let's not forget an old-fashioned route to make change and to advocate for our students. We can make some more noise. Contacting legislators about technology in education and rallying people to do likewise could really be effective. I know all of this takes time, and I'm not exactly in a position to start a grassroots movement on my own right now, but it is possible. We can't get burned out, we need to get fired up!